A Lesson From the Fro of Bob Ross

I know many of you can probably remember watching Bob Ross on PBS, actually I watched him just the other week. Bob Ross really had the ability to paint nature scenes that you could stare at for hours. He is possibly know for his popular phrase "happy trees" which he says as he was places towering trees on canvas. Still to this day I sit and watch him with amazement that creating something so beautiful could be so simple. I find myself going back and forth in amazement and also anticipation of wanting to see the finished product. But as always I sit and watch till that white mans Afro turns around with words of encouragement to attempt what he just painted. Then you see it... the complete picture... what Sir Bob Ross has been working toward the whole time. Then that moment of satisfaction comes... you see the towering snow capped mountains, the river, the morning dew resting slightly above the river, the fluffy clouds in the sky, and the happy little cabin over to the left corner. You finally see what he wanted to create the whole time!

I had the opportunity to experience that moment in a different matter yesterday. One of my "College Roommates" became more developed as a work of God. Not finished, but refined. Gods painting on his life became more clear. The tools that he has been given have been developed as a specific skill set for this time in his life. I could not agree more with the body of believers and the senior pastor that support him. I don't think I have ever experienced or felt the vibe of when so many people are in agreeance, but when it was brought forth to the congregation the spirit of overwhelming support just rested in the sanctuary. Which just means more paint was added to the pallet and the picture became bigger.

God worked and developed him to what he has been called to be all along. God equipped him with the tools for this season. which is a boat load of encouragement to me. Overwhelming joy for my brother because I've seen him through some tough times, but all that was the background for the masterpiece that is being (present tense) created. The spiritual tools (gifts) and skill set are different than The "tools" I've been given are paint to my pallet, but God showed me through this moment I will Begin to see a picture more defined in my life than ever before. The thing I've got to remember is no two paintings are alike.

- Jimmy

Brats, Birds, & English Muffins

I had couple of minutes to spare the other sunday between practice and the service for FBC Greer. So with a legalized crack house (Starbucks) being near I decided to go spend some time in the Word. For all my coffee snob friends, do not fear ... I drank a Tazo green tea.

Really cool vibe for a Sunday morning. The background music was soft and full of summer, and coupled with the morning light really created a moment I could've sat in for hours. As I read through proverbs 6 I would look up just to soak things in occasionally. A family had been eating breakfast outside, and as they got up from the table the little girl was given the task of throwing away the trash that had been collected. As she walked to the trash can with arms full I noticed she was dropping crumbs rom an english muffin. Now being raised with the "guidance" (out right fear) of Tommy McFarlin my initial reaction was ... "well that little brat needs to pick up after herself!" Even the mom walked behind her and didn't even bother to pick it up! So there sat many pieces of english muffin on the ground for an employee to pick up ... everything in me just wanted to scream "yo mama don't work here! pick it up!" Completely distracted by that moment I was totally unprepared for the visual lesson I was about to receive.

I went back to reading and writing my thoughts. A few minuted had past as I looked back out at the crumbs of English muffins. As a stared, the smallest bird that I think I have ever seen hopped over and cautiously approached the crumbs that had been left by the brat. It took the Bird a moment just to ensure its safety and then began to eat at a frantic pace. It would select a piece of the English muffin and hop over to the shade of a table to consume the vittle. Me, being the mild (cough cough) A.D.D. type, just sat there an watch this bird eat its weight in English muffin!


Simple truth to comprehend in these days of hard times and trials that My father, who takes care of a bird through a brat, will make sure I have exactly what I need ONLY when I need it. As for the third party that watched this all happen ... well ... lets just say that my thoughts about the child, mom and even the bird are useless.

The lesson of the story is kids (me included). God's promise to take care of us and give us what we need was shown to me through this situation.... I just thought it was a cool moment, and wanted to share it with you ... and when God showed me that he was going to take care of me with this visual illustration... for a moment ...I was the guy sitting in Starbucks, by myself, laughing from the joy that recieved through seeing this illustration..... have a restful day in the Lord.

- Jimmy

wow... ten years!

Life is the only unplanned event that we always want to be at! We don’t care how bad it gets as long as we get to live it. I am reminded specifically how fragile life is this time of year, but in the same thought I am also directed at how beautiful and wonderful Christ love is. As a human I know and understand love to a degree but not to a degree that God has for me. “The way that He Loves us”….

I associate Love with Goodness… which it is good but love is also hard and it hurts … especially realizing that everything planned in my life was placed before me by a God that Loves me… the good … the bad… the trials … the ups… and the downs. This situation called life is only a temporary thing that we have been given the privilege to encounter. To understand that every moment of every breath of every day that I am given is all a part of a plan of how I can bring God the most glory!

It’s funny how we look at time. Seconds lead to minutes which leads to hours which lead to days which lead to weeks and then to months and then to year upon year. Then one day you take a breath and you realize that it has been 10 years. Then 20 years …and you look over and smile because she has been there for it all supporting you all the way. Or you are walking out of your office for the last time. Or hearing your baby girls name called out as she receives her college degree… and the thought of astonishment falls with the verbalization of “I can’t believe”.

I shared that thought today with my sister… December 14, 2009… “wow I can’t believe it has been 10 years”. Ten years since I walked into that hospital room and didn’t have to be told what had happened. Ten years since I realized that God had just ended a chapter in my life, and began writing a new one. Ten years since my earthly father Thomas Edward McFarlin went home to be with the Lord. I am amazed at the wonderful provision of God. I also wonder what my life would have been like with a healthy father. I’ve had to understand that in many situations throughout my life that God had planned this chapter of my life to be this way.

I saw cancer eat away a man that wasn’t the best father… but he was my father! He was the dad that God gave me and blessed me with for 17 years of my life. He taught me a lot of things, and I truly believe that he drew closer to the Lord towards the end of his life. I could tell you some real bad things about my father but the grace of my God covers that just as it covers me.

So I am left with a commandment to honor my mother and father. Its funny how there is no clause in that commandment. I am to honor my mother and father … no matter if living or dead. It’s hard to see how Gods plan for you is to experience that much pain, but it only shows how much … how needy … I am .. for a savior that does know my pain. I feel that with my bloodline being that of which it is … I want to bring honor to my father not because of anything that he did but only because the God who loves me beyond what I know has commanded me.

I would love to have seen my dad experience being a grandfather, and to watch his kids grow old. The hard thing though was that God knew I would bring greater Glory to him in this situation rather than what I wanted selfishly. My father wouldn’t give anything to have this life back. I hope my dad would be proud. Because there is no greater feeling of accomplishment than for your dad to look and you and tell you how proud he is. That is why I still look at those trophies, those plaques, those medals, and those number plates. Because I know those were moments that my dad hugged me and told me how proud he was. I think that as the sickness grew on him there was a growing realization of pride of his children.

The one thing I remember my father always saying to people in his last days …. “I’ve asked the good Lord to let me see what my kids will become”… I would like to have a cup of coffee with my dad now … and just ask three questions … have I honored you? Secondly… have I made you proud? Have I become what the Lord wants me to be?

This is the first year I’ve not went to the sixth floor of the tower at Spartanburg regional and stared at that room and going to the chair I sat in looking out over Spartanburg not understanding why ten years ago… but knowing that God wasn’t caught off guard by this situation … God did it… only because the other three members of the McFarlin family would bring Him more glory in this situation… God did it and God has provided … in many ways… but it still hurts to remember this night at 9:30…. That my life and the lives of my sister and my mother changed forever! But through it all I gained strength from this scripture…

Psalm 121
A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
1 I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!
3 He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. 4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.
5 The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. 6 The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.
7 The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. 8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.


Life is the only thing that we think we have control of, and yet it is total permissible participation of the Holy God who gives it!!! To Bring Him Glory!!

A thought about ministry from a quote

For those of you who don’t know I was raised a Wesleyan. Through my childhood it was where my family went to church. The church was a small congregation towards the last couple of years that we went there, but as a child I remember sitting on my grandma’s lap quietly eating Nilla wafers. My dad would be on the end of the pew, if he wasn’t outside talking to his other hunting buddies that “went” there, then my mom, sister and grandma. Now depending on my behavior and which parental unit was present determined my location on the pew any given Sunday morning. Of course there was a fair share of the congregation that wanted to mess with me and my sister, but for the most part I found myself between my mom and my grandma eating Nilla wafers. My Papa would occasionally be up front “leading singing” depending on if the church had a “choir leader” or not. The sunlight would pour through the stain glass windows depicting scenes from the bible, and the room never seemed cool enough in the summer of warm enough in the winter. Old ladies all smelling and looking like old ladies, their husbands with them, some grumpy some not.
I just remember even as young I was seeing that pulpit demanded respect to anyone who stood behind it. I fondly remember the man that stood behind that pulpit for so many years and spoke the word of God with what I now know as fire and passion. He wanted the people that came through those doors to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ … and he wasn’t afraid to yell his point across if he got excited about what God did for him.
Reverend C.R. Lewis gave me my first glimpse of Christ, and was an example to me as I look back on that time in my life. He was madly in love with Jesus, crazy about his sweetheart, a father, and a true example of what ministry is. What I noticed was that his ministry was simple, totally reliant on the Gospel, the power of Christ in him , and a passion to see people experience the grace that he had been given.

Yesterday, I held a piece of paper in my hand that had this quote on it:

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
where there is injury, pardon,
where there is doubt, faith,
where there is despair, hope,
where there is darkness, light,
and where there is sadness, joy,

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, for it is in the giving that we receive, it is in the pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in the dying that we are born to eternal life.”

-Saint Francis

As I looked up from reading this quote I saw the little country church filled, my mama right beside me, the old ladies a little older, and the old men a little grumpier. Everything smelled the same, looked the same, the church was very similar to the one I grew up in. I was mildly distracted by ornery old people, but I think it was because I clapped a little during “Victory in Jesus”. The commanding pulpit was in place with a group of elder gentlemen behind waiting to speak. At rest in a coffin draped with an American flag honoring a WWII veteran was the body that held the spirit of Rev. C.R. Lewis. The words that followed for about the next two hours were not an effort to convince God to let him in to heaven. Rather It was a mournful celebration of a life lived that truly reflected a personal relationship with Christ. The people there were given the opportunity to share personal stories about “Preacher Lewis”, and one by one as the people stood and began to speak. They all spoke about how this man used every breath to change the people he was near for the cause of Christ. Including me, it all clicked at that moment. I remembered the life Preacher Lewis lived when I was a child. I listened to all the people that stood up and what each minister had to say as they shared. As I peered at that coffin I thought to myself no one has to tell a lie. This man lived what he believed!!! And it was like a simultaneous hush came over the room and with the thought process in my head….. God said “This is ministry… what you see here has brought people to me and made my name famous… This is ministry!” I read the quote from Saint Francis that was on the piece of paper again. “This is Ministry”… the bells and whistles will change… “this is ministry” combined with this though all I can think about is this passage in the book of Romans

Romans 8:31-39 (New Living Translation)
Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”[a]) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God speaks through status updates?!?!?!?

It’s been like a puzzle recently when God has spoken to me. He’s given me the pieces, not in order, but one at a time. And as soon as I process one and store it to the back of my mind another piece is given to me. They don’t fit at first but within the next couple of days the Lord will speak and the third piece will come in joining the other two that didn’t fit. This is something that the Lord has been doing in my life for months, and it has been surrounded with its fair share of doubt and continual processing …. So please feel free to comment.

 

You know how you have those days that you want to share a nugget of scripture but you don’t want to seem to cookie cutter, but in all honesty it is something the Lord reveled to you and so you share anyway. Via the third person phrase tool know as the “facebook status update”. [Just as a side note status updates can become addicting to read especially if you are a people watcher or just plain nosy!] So I was just being nosy day and a friend from Nashville had Psalm 32 on her status update. So curiosity got the best of me, and thus the first piece of the puzzle was given to me

 

Psalm 32:8-9 (New Living Translation)

 

“8 The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
      I will advise you and watch over you.
 9 Do not be like a senseless horse or mule
      that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”

 

Ok, so the Lord is just reassuring me of what was driven through my skull, and body for that fact, that He is in control (see note: “no other explination”). What really stood out to me was verse nine and that the reason I was experiencing this “dry” time was because I had to be led around with a bridle in my mouth. God was showing me where He wanted me to go, but I was fitting the guidance! And as we all know that if you jerk on a chain enough times the dog will submit and follow. Think about it though… if you are walking your Dog on a leash it is only for his safety, not because you are mean, but because you care for the well being of the animal. God is walking me down this road of life and I stop and sniff a fire hydrant sometimes. If it’s not where He wants me then a little “tug” is administered to correct my path. Eventually, if the dog is smart, it will begin to walk beside its owner with no struggle on guidance whatsoever! God also used a quote posted on the status of Dwayne Morris that really closes this thought out “The most miserable people are genuine believers who continue to live life without a true, day-to-day relationship with Jesus.”

 

So after processing all that I was listening to a sermon by Perry noble, and said something that just put death grip on my cranium was said. This quote wasn’t the focus of his sermon but it kind of was. He was telling the story of how New Spring began…. And it was all issued on a challenge by and older gentleman who asked him “what would you be willing to attempt for God if you knew you wouldn’t fail?”…. Without hesitation in my mind I answered Music! Playing, worshiping, recording, and doing anything with music to glorify The Lord….. but a 26 year old who desires to have a family one day and support a wife cant “survive” on the norm of what is musicians pay (which in some cases is non existent). Am I being real or is it me doubting the Lord? I mean my common sense tells me that a musicians pay isn’t that of even a guy miserable in a cubical somewhere! I know God has called me to be a “musicianary”[music + missionary] but I’m a drummer, I read a rhythm line! But it’s something I would try, without a shadow of a doubt, if I knew I wouldn’t fail….. That’s when the second half of what Perry said clicked this gentleman said... “You’re a fool if you don’t do it!”

 

 

-------[SIGH]-------

 

So knowing who holds the Leash guiding me down the best pathway for my life why do I still fight walking right beside my master???? Why do I doubt if He has placed this passion my heart??? Will I ever be content if I sale God short by being that Guy in the cubical???  I could bring Him glory there, but is that really the “best pathway” for my life????

 

 

Ya know, it’s interesting how more pleasant a walk is when the Dog understands that the best place is beside the One leading him!

AGAIN!!!! REALLY!!!!

(This is a “sister post” to last weeks blog)

Ok, this is getting real humorous! I had the opportunity to play for a most excellent group of musicians at Hope Point church. The Lord blessed me with an encouraging time of worship as I was playing. As we finished I went through my normal routine to get to a seat. As the pastor finished his prayer, and began to open his sermon, I kid you not; he began speaking about the 15^th chapter of John!!!!!! REALLY!!!  YOU CAN’T PLAN THIS! I admit I laughed, but then corrected my self with the thought “maybe, just maybe something will be taught to me that will iron out my frustration with this verse.”

 

Here are some of the notes that I took during the sermon. I have to warn you, my note taking skills are a little strange!

____________________________________________________________________

Prayer-

 

“Whether we like it or not, asking is the power of the kingdom”

 

John 15:7

 

-         Have prayer more than food.

-         “if we fail with prayer we fail everywhere”

-         Plan more to pray more than I have

-         Absorb your life with Christ, then ask anything you want

-         Christ listens to those who have true union with Him

 

[Grasp verse 7 and tie it back to verse 5]

 

-         prayer is declaring our present need with God having the future answer

 

Example: a Fish stranded on a beach unable to get to water. The fish is left to die flopping around on the sand, and this fish’s need to be in water for life support is apparently important. The fish flops around fighting for life until a uncontrollable force, which is a wave, comes and carries it back to the water.

 

-         The wave washes the answer in!

-         Only he who realizes he is truly helpless can truly pray

-         Verse 7 is talking about things I cannot do but what God can give.

 

Jimmy, how many things did Jesus say that He didn’t mean?

 

_____________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

I am hesitant about doing this but I want to share my journal entry from last night as I was processing this information

 

 

“I look at the strongest points in my walk over the past 12 years, and the strongest times are those that are helplessly immersed in prayer.  Sometimes the prayers were vain, and I praise you Lord for not letting me have my way, but I was in constant prayer for strength no matter the situation. I feasted on communication with you Lord so that I may survive emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically. “Only he who is helpless can truly pray”. I’m to prideful to admit helplessness! It’s not a “mans” character to admit that he’s weak and unable…… I’m completely helpless because nothing I can do, under my strength can save me from the toll that sin has brought on my life! I am unable to save myself from eternal separation from you Lord! I am a totally helpless man!! So that being the base of all my helplessness I have nothing to stand on but the love and resurrection of you Lord!! I pray because I am helpless without you Lord! “absorb your life with Christ, then ask anything you want”… and it will be given to you!”

 

 

Finally! This “song” has a resolved ending, and it just doesn’t end! The chords have progressed and brought an ending that makes sense to the musician!….(music frame of though)

 

I heard it through the grapevine?

John 15: 1-17

(Please take time to read the linked passage.... it will help... also take time to comment on my facebook wall) 

 

Ok, I think I actually get it after 12 years of being a Christian. When God places scripture before you repeatedly He actually wants you to take time out and soak it in. Once again I've see this passage a thousand times and I have meditated on it as well. So I actually took time to observe what a Gardner does to maintain a vineyard.(yeah I know he's talking about wine ..... but get over it!) I'm a visual learner so that really helped to understand that pruning is the removal of that which is not needed and of what hinders the plant from producing more fruit for the next years crop. 

 

Pruning hurts!!! Let me be the first to tell you it hurts physically, and emotionally!! You don't understand why. When it happens you kick and scream and even completely abandon any effort towards the relationship that you have with Christ.  If a grapevine is like every other plant the pruning leaves. These scars will always be present on the plant, but the plant becomes stronger the day that the useless limb is removed.  We may not like what is pruned out from our lives at the time, but God knows that we are more effective and more fruitful when this process takes place.  For the Gardner pruning is a constant thing. When the season ends He takes and removes what has not produced fruit so that the vine will be more fruitful. 

 

I've wrestled with the seventh verse of this passage sooooo much!!!!  I remain in Him but I try to place Him on my schedule.  I shouldn't remain in Him just to get the things that I want. I should remain in Him because it brings the greatest glory to His name. But God will truly give me what I want???? It's a struggle not to run away with this verse in my mind with the temptations of American culture. We are permitted and denied physical things because it places us in the exact place that God sees fit for us to give Him the most glory.  I know for a fact that if I had the income of Donald Trump it would be very hard for me to walk as closely to the Lord. We're promised exactly what we need, but Christ did say He'll give us what we want??? do you understand my frustration?

 

 

I really think I could write a small book about trying to hash out the words of this passage.  I desire so many things but God has withheld some of them for this season in my life because I am most effective without them (but it would sure be nice)...... and as of right now He has seen fit for me to be a single, 26 year old, semester missionary, that has a part time job at a music store....... May the Lord receive the most glory!